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REMOVING
DOUBTS ABOUT
THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE PROPHETS
There are some verses in the Qur’an
which seem, at first sight, to reprimand certain Prophets for some of their
actions, or which give the image that a Prophet may commit a sin in the normal
usage of the word. Before clarifying specific examples in this respect in order
to remove all the doubts about the infallibility of the Prophets, it may be
appropriate to acquit the Prophets of the calumnies against them of the present
versions of the Bible. These disgusting calumnies, whose existence is
inconceivable in an uncorrupted Divine Scripture, are certain, like many other
additions and distortions, to have found their way into the Bible in later
times.
Accusations
or calumnies of the Bible against the Prophets
In the book of Genesis,
19, 30-38, it is written that the two daughters of the Prophet Lot got their
father to drink wine and then lay with him so as to become pregnant by him. This
is obviously the most disgusting of calumnies that could be uttered or written
against a Prophet. Lot’s people of the cities of Sodom and Gomorra were
destroyed by God because of their immoralities, and Lot and his daughters were,
according to the Bible itself, the only ones to be spared from that destruction
on account of their belief, good conduct and decency. The crime of which the
Bible accuses the Prophet Lot is worse than what his people were destroyed for.
In the book of Genesis,
chapter 38, a story is mentioned in which Jacob’s son, Juda, is supposed to
have fornicated with the wife of his son. The woman gave birth, as a result of
this fornication, to twin boys, and some of the Israelite Prophets were
descended from them. Genesis 49:4 also claims that Jacob’s
another son, Reuben, slept with his step-mother, his father’s wife.
Neither
the sons of Jacob whom the Qur’an mentions as “grandchildren” whose ways
should be followed nor his wives could have engaged such a behavior.7
Our Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, explicitly declared that there is
not a single case of fornication in his lineage back to Adam.8 He also stated
that all the Prophets are brothers descended from the same father.9 Our Prophet
is a descendant of Abraham, upon him be peace, as were Judah and the other
Israelite Prophets, so it is impossible for any of them to be the child of an
illicit intercourse, or - God forbid such a thought! - to have fornicated.
In the second book of
Samuel, chapter 11, it is written that the Prophet David fell in love with the
wife of one of his commanders and slept with her without marriage. According to
the Bible, he also got the commander to be put in the front line where the
fighting was fiercest and, after the death of the commander, he married his
wife.
David, upon him be peace,
is a Prophet who was given a Divine Scripture - the Psalms - and who is praised
in the Qur’an for his sincere and profound devotion to God:
Be patient at what
they say, and remember Our servant David, the man of strength and
abilities. For he ever turned to God in sincere devotion and submission.
It was We that made the mountains declare, in unison with him, Our
praises, at eventide and at the break of day, and the birds gathered (in
assemblies): all with him did turn to Him (in profound devotion). We
strengthened his kingdom and gave him wisdom and sound judgment (in speech
and decision.) (Sad, 38.17-20)
Though a king, he lived a
simple life by his own labor. He cried much out of fear of God and used to fast
every other day. This kind of fast was recommended by our Prophet to some of his
Companions who sought the most rewarding type of supererogatory fasting.10 Is it
at all conceivable that such a noble Prophet could fornicate and plot the death
of his commander in order to take his wife?
In the first Book of
Kings, chapter 11, Solomon is blamed for having married many foreign women from
the nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, ‘You must not
intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their
gods,’ and therefore of doing such evil as following the gods and goddesses
(idols) of some other tribes.
If the Qur’an had not
been sent, we could not have known the truth about the previous Prophets. The
Qur’an exalts them all as being sincere, devout and thankful servants of God.
As it freed Jesus from the deification of Christians and the denial of the Jews
and glorified God from Christians’ attributing to Him sons and daughters, so
too, it acquitted all the Israelite and non-Israelite Prophets of having
committed the disgusting sins attributed to them in the Bible. It mentions Jesus
as a spirit from God breathed into the Virgin Mary, Abraham as an intimate
friend of God, Moses as one who spoke to God and Solomon as a king and a Prophet
who prayed to Him humbly: O my Lord! So order me that I may be grateful for
your favors, which You have bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I may
work the righteousness that will please You; and admit me, by Your Grace, to the
ranks of Your righteous servants (al-Naml, 27.19). So, Solomon,
besides never having worshipped anything other than God, never committed a sin
and, despite being the greatest and most powerful of kings that ever lived,
remained a humble servant of God until his death.
In addition to such
calumnies against the Prophets, the Bible is full of assertions unbecoming to a
Scripture - for example, it writes that although the Prophet Isaac wanted to
bless his older son Esau, he mistakenly blessed Jacob instead, as a result of
his wife Rebaka’s trick (Genesis, 27). Also, the Bible claims that the Prophet
Jacob wrestled with God, who appeared to him in the form of a man (Genesis, 32).
7. Although the sons of Jacob, upon him
be peace, wronged their brother Joseph out of jealousy, they must have corrected
their ways later. (Tr.)
8. Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya,
2.313-4.
9. Bukhari, “Anbiya’,”
48; Muslim, “Fada’il,” 144.
10. Bukhari, “Tahajjud,”
7, “Sawm,” 59; Muslim, “Siyam,” 182.
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